Since 2020, financial services have been heavily relying on social media platforms. After the pandemic had a profound impact on how business is conducted, financial advisors began to shift their methods. The use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn can no longer be avoided.
In the midst of the crisis, 90 percent of financial advisors say that social media has changed how they interact with their clients in some way. More than half of those who gained new customers used social media more often this year.
However, if you don’t use social media to your full advantage, you could be wasting your time. From optimizing your profile to the content you post, these are our top tips for financial advisors that want to attract new clients on social media.
Optimize Your Profile Online as a Financial Advisor
Don’t get overwhelmed by immersing yourself in every social media platform out there. Tik-Tok can provide tremendous advantages for the right advisor, whereas LinkedIn may be more suitable for another.
Find one you like, and stick to it. Once you’ve built the consistency on that platform, you can branch out to repurpose content on another. The most common mix for a financial advisor is Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
The first thing you’ll want to do is optimize your profile. Remember that at some point, whether it’s while pressing the follow button or sending you a message, someone will stumble across your profile. To ensure you make a great online impression, these are the two key elements to optimizing any social media profile.
A high resolution, bright, professional photo of your face.
A short and impactful bio that states how you can help others. We don’t mean “James Bank, Financial Advisor.” That will be obvious in the page name. An impactful bio would be along the lines of “Empowering the average Canadian to retire sooner.” That’s the guy people want to learn from.
Be human.
Social media is not the place for you to stick to dry information and hide behind a company’s image. This is where executives should get personal. Social media is your tool to become the warm, conversational, local financial expert that people feel like they know. You don’t have to be perfect 100% of the time; you just need to show up.
To be human, speak to your audience like you would talk to a close friend or family member that asked you about industry-related topics.
Being human also means engaging with people instead of using social media as a platform to sell your services. This is a connection-building tool where you should spend at least 20 minutes per day leaving meaningful comments or responding to questions.
The best way to start conversations is to have a call-to-action with every post that engages the follower to send you a message or share their experience. You can do this by posting polls on your Facebook or Instagram story, asking your LinkedIn connections to share their thoughts on a blog post you shared, and more.
Pick a client, speak to them.
The old saying goes that if you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. This applies to social media as well. While your financial services may be able to serve just about anyone, you’ll do far better on social media if you post within a particular niche. You may as well pick your favourite!
Create content that speaks to their problems, services you provide they should know about, and tips to improve their financial lifestyle. They’ll look to you as a source of education, and as trust is built, become curious about how you can help them. If you speak to their desired lifestyle and how you can help them get there, that’s how you know you’re ready to make a content plan.
Make a Financial Advisor Content Plan
First things first, if creating the perfect content plan prevents you from creating action and posting, you need to go ahead and just start. It’s better to begin creating meaningful connections than waste time with the details.
However, the most important aspect of attracting new clients on social media is creating a plan that caters to them. With this in mind, here’s how you can continue to win over new clients that have been watching your content and get ready to take action.
Be consistent with your posts.
It doesn’t matter if you post 3, 4, or 7 times per week. The more often you post, the more opportunities you have to create conversations with potential clients. However, if your time and resources only allow for three posts per week, stick with it.
You need to commit to that consistency once you decide on your number. This way, your followers can trust that you’re a consistent person they can rely on and begin to not only expect your content but be excited to see your upcoming weekly blog post, tip Tuesday, etc.
Create shareable content.
If you want to attract new clients on social media, you’ll have to try a few methods to reach them. One of the best ways to build trust and have your content sent to the right people is by creating shareable content.
Now, shareable content doesn’t have to be complicated. All you need to do is provide value and a call-to-action (CTA) that asks the reader to send it to someone. That could look like:
A post about the difference in your total retirement savings in a mutual fund at age 55 if you start putting $50/month in at age 25 vs age 35 could have a CTA in the caption that says, “Send this to anyone under 30, so they’ll thank you later”. Voila – shareable content that you can repurpose into a blog, video, and expand on in later posts for a theme throughout the week.
Use the 80/20 Rule
As a financial advisor, you’re a people-oriented service. Not only do your skills and qualifications matter, but clients who jive with your personality are more likely to stay loyal for years to come. It can also attract new clients that see you online, as you become more approachable and easy to trust with finance questions.
The 80/20 rule refers to how much you post about business vs your personal life. If you post five days a week, one of those posts should be personal. This doesn’t have to be what you had for dinner last night, necessarily. Personal posts mean giving people insight into how you do business, how you got here, and perhaps the occasional cute dog photo. People go nuts for those.
Strengthen Relationships with Clients Online
The best way to attract new clients on social media is by using the online tool to strengthen relationships with current ones. This works well for a couple of reasons.
Let’s say your client Sarah recently got a promotion at work. Since you’re using LinkedIn, you can see this update during your daily 20-minute social check-in routine. Without any intention of promoting your services, simply send a meaningful congratulations—the more personal, the better.
Now, Sarah is not only feeling cared for since you took the time to send a personal note, but the algorithm is recognizing that because you are connected and now messaging with each other, your posts must be important to each other. When she sees your post about budgeting for a wedding next week, she may think of her cousin’s upcoming event next summer and send it her way. Having your content shared from a trustworthy source is a great way to strengthen relationships online and even attract new connections.
Have you been struggling to post online because you feel like you’ve lost the vision for your business? Perhaps you’ve been so buried in the daily hustle, and you’ve been working relentlessly just to get everything done. Learn more about our One Page Business Plan, which can be the cornerstone of all significant business decisions.
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